the Fly Clone Project

Hi! I am new to Parker. I got gifted what I believe is a 2009 Nitefly M. It's serial number is 082119 USA. It has DiMarzio pickups and a Fishman Piezo system. The problem is someone tried to rewire it and just gave up with the job incomplete. I have tried to figure out from what I can find online how it was supposed to be wired, but I can't find the exact one. About half of the ground wires are just not connected, and it isn't obvious where they should go.

@mikejcurtis, scroll down this post a ways and you’ll see the factory illustration for the NiteFly M wiring. From those two photos, it looks as though neither of the pickup hot wires are soldered to the selector switch, nor their series connection wires to the middle lugs of the tone pot’s push/pull switch section. The good news is that all the factory wiring appears to clean and in place, otherwise - So you probably won’t know until you hook the necessary connections back up whether any components need to be sprayed with contact cleaner or replaced.

Thank you!
I have since tried to follow these diagrams. What is a bit confusing is schematic for the NF MOJO match3es my guitar, except mine has DiMarzios, and my output jack is square-ish like the MOJO drawing. Also my toggle for the piezo looks nothing like any of the schematics I can find. Mine simplyhas three terminals.

I seem to have all three pickups working, but there is an awful buzz. Should every component be connected to the same ground?

The last photo is what I've managed

mikejcurtis wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 6:36 pm there is an awful buzz. Should every component be connected to the same ground?

Only to the extent necessary to avoid hum-generating ground loops. So long as every component’s ground signal is being passed along to the appropriate lug of the jack in a linear manner, everything should work. You can sum every green ground wire to one point on or one component removed from the ground wire between the volume pot casing and jack, if it helps you visually track the signal path(s).

It’s difficult to see anything amiss in the photo. Is it “buzz” or “hum”? Generally speaking, the former would indicate string grounding via the bridge and the shield of the piezo wire not finding its way to the output jack, with the latter indicating the noise of the humbuckers not finding its way to ground.

Is it the same noise in every switch position? Does the buzz stop when you touch any of the pickups, knobs, tuners, etc.? In any case, you’re describing a grounding issue that’s going to be annoying to pin down unless you have a multimeter on-hand to test for continuity between connections.

I figured it out! I was missing a ground between the components and the output jack barrel! Quiet as a ghost and all switch positions work as expected! Thank you for your help!

Now to get in to this cool beast!

Well, now I see I have gotten ahead of things. Tonight I was playing the Fly and it suddenly began making this total unguitarlike sound Like a weird synth. I'm starting to think the thing to do would be to disable the piezo. Has anyone ever had the guitar just start making a weird sound like this?

mikejcurtis wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 6:44 pm I'm starting to think the thing to do would be to disable the piezo. Has anyone ever had the guitar just start making a weird sound like this?

It reads as though your preamp freaked out from a component failure. It’s common enough that you’re in good company. Thankfully, the Powerchip is still produced and sold as a replacement, and you could probably score a spare from someone here for a good price; if it comes to that. In the meantime, however: Is this an intermittent issue, or one in which the signal is now permanently affected, following that noisy event?

#PiezoIssues

No, it's permanent, sadly. I plug it in and within 5 or ten seconds it's making non-guitar sounds.
I am in the market for a new preamp!

mikejcurtis wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 12:11 am No, it's permanent, sadly. I plug it in and within 5 or ten seconds it's making non-guitar sounds.
I am in the market for a new preamp!

The Fishman preamp used from approximately 2003-2012 is the Powerchip:

https://fishmanstore.com/products/power ... 3662415043

The current retail price seems to be $129, with no used ones showing up on eBay or Reverb, at the moment. I moved your other thread to the Classifieds, in case you're willing to wait and see if anyone has a used one they'd be willing to part with.

Well, I have screwed around with this long enough. I'll go for the new one and cross my fingers.

You made sure it's not just the battery, right?
(Doesn't necessarily sound like that, but it might be worth a try, cause it's quick and cheap to test)